Sirona adds another LAYAR to its customer communications

Commencing with this edition of Australasian Dental Practice, Sirona has added the latest in print-to-internet crossover technology to its advertising called "Augmented Reality". The first advert, which appears on page 123, looks like a regular advert. However, by downloading the free LAYAR App for iOS or Android to your smartphone or tablet, then viewing the advert using the inbuilt camera, the advert literally comes to life.

"This is the most exciting concept we have ever seen," said Sirona Australia Director, Morné Cheetham. "We have seen attempts at connecting advertising to the internet such as with QR codes previously, however, this is quite something else. The first time you see it work, you literally do a double-take."

The advert features an image of Sirona customer Dr Mark McCullough with a speech bubble saying "I can't imagine practicing without Orthophos XG 3D and CEREC anymore". When viewed through the App, however, the still image of Dr McCullough in the advert comes to life and starts speaking more about his experience with Sirona products.

"The role of our advertising is to catch the eye of potential customers and alert them to the differences Sirona's solutions can make," Mr Cheetham said. "The series of adverts we're running allow us to showcase our products combined with powerful testimonial from an actual customer.

"This new Augmented Reality technology fits in perfectly with our image as a high tech dental company as well as offering additional information in an innovative manner."

Sirona's new adverts are still designed to stand on their own as an advertising medium whilst also offering a lot more by simply downloading an App.

"Right now, Augmented Reality is brand new, so to take advantage of it, you have to take the additional step of downloading a free App and installing it on your phone or tablet," Mr Cheetham said. " Once you have done that once, however, you are set to view all our AR adverts as well content from elsewhere as others take advantage of this new innovation."

As well as seeing one of Sirona's customers speaking about the Orthophos XG 3D and CEREC, the LAYAR App also replaces other static elements on the page with active content, such as buttons that transfer you to Sirona's webpage.

Augmented Reality also has broader applications and a video presentation at www.layar.com demonstrates these.

To see Augmented Reality in action, simply click the "App Store" icon on your iPhone or iPad or the "Google play" icon on Android devices and then search on LAYAR. Once downloaded and installed, open the LAYAR App which will activate the camera in the smartphone or tablet. Frame the Sirona advert on page 111 and then tap the screen to start.